The Pakistani military says six soldiers and a police officer have been killed in an attack by gunmen on an army camp near Islamabad.

The military said in a statement that five other security personnel were wounded in the attack near Wazirabad, less than 150 kilometers southeast of the capital.

The military said the camp that was attacked had been set up by the army to search for the debris of a helicopter that crashed recently.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Hours before the assault, reports say hundreds of right-wing and hard-line Islamists had marched through the area as part of a march from Lahore to Islamabad to protest the reopening of Pakistani routes that NATO uses to supply troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan is battling an Islamic insurgency in its lawless northwest tribal region, but attacks in the area of the latest incident are described as unusual.